edit: I accidentally listed Gamdar as dead when I meant Garbash, too many G clerics – this has been corrected below
Summary
Our group acquires some new allies, returns to the tomb, leaps over some fire beetles, suffers loses, and finds the hidden sarcophagus of an ancient druid.
Player characters
- Grick the Half-Orc, played by Modest Mace
- Jakob “the Smirk” an Acrobat, played by Malley (deceased)
- Lathan Lancehand the Half-Elf, played by Ragnar
- Pritch the Acrobat, played by CowardlyB (deceased)
- Sky the Druid, played by Captain Caveman
- Stee Blackbend the Fighter, played by Jacob H.
Hirelings
- Foamy the dog, Sky’s befriended beast
- Gamdar, Half-Orc Cleric of St. Ygg (deceased)
- Garbash, Cleric of Crom
- Irya, Fighter
- Manks, Cleric of Hathor
Session
The party acquires three new partners in Helix – Lathan the Half-Elf, Prick, an haughty acrobat, and Stee the archer. They celebrate their meeting with a great deal of carousing – drinking, gambling, flirting. Grick offends a magic-user that night and narrowly evades being transformed into a pig. Stee calls out to Crom for fortune amid a game of dice, and is compelled to slay a foe mightier than they. The party roars into the night and awakes with lighter purses and throbbing migraines.
Jakob goes to the Chapel of St. Ygg and asks for the priest to provide a magical restoration to his undead friend Aloyisius back at the Barrowmaze. The priest argues with Jakob that this person deserves their curse and should be laid to rest, but Jakob convinces him to send one of his acolytes, Gamdar the Half-Orc cleric.
Sky stops by the curio shop, asking for any kind of glue. He is sold a tin of gum, and is instructed to chew on the candy and affix it to whatever he wants to weld together.
Purchasing a barrel full of shovels, the group sets their aim at exhuming a buried tomb they spied days ago. A full day is spent trekking to the location, digging, and returning. Another adventuring party is witnessed far to the west, dragging a canoe over the land, heading towards the northern marshes.
After a day of back-breaking labor, the group returns to Helix without having fully exposed the tomb. On the way back a cry is hear on the horizon as a swarm of gargoyles fly with a captured man in their claws. As they fly overhead, Jakob fires and arrow, striking and killing the captive. The gargoyles don’t see to notice, and Jakob tells the group that if he’s ever in such a situation, he wants them to do the same for him.
Back at the tavern, Jakob buys everyone roasted bird, and Lathan asks the proprietor for a better drink. He produces a bottle of enchanted brandy, and Lathan drinks it, noting the flavors and the seeming bolstering of his morale.
Next day, they return to the half-exhumed tomb, finally finding the buried, shattered door beneath. The group enters, finding four sarcophagus of a family, and when they look up they are startled by many giant centipedes, curled around the stone pillars waiting for an ambush. The party shoots at them, throws burning oil, and enters into combat, slaying the insects with little issue.
They examine the tombs, finding dried corpses laid to rest in the sarcophagus, and collect a variety of rings, circlets, an ivory comb, and an embalming dagger. Pocketing the riches, the main entrance is decided upon as their next stop.
Returning to their block-and-tackle entrance, Aloysius peers out from an alcove, excited to see them again. The skeleton warns the party that some boglings descended down the rope in the night, and the group confirms that their usual entrance is coated in slime and mud. Sky then comps down on his purchased gum, slapping it on Aloyisius’ broken leg, effectively mending him.
Descending, Grick mentions that they should use Aloyisius’ tools to pick the lock on the stone door they spied days ago. Grick scouts ahead and hears voices from a southern door. When Lathan prepares a surprise, and as the party flings the door open they see an adventuring party of four halflings.
This group tells them that they are the Proudfeet, and Lathan warns them to not get in his way. They continue along the east hallway towards the tomb they wish to pick, and find previously searched room filled with the eerie glow of fire beetles.
Debating what should be done, Grick convinced Gamdar to smite the beetles. He charged in, and was immediately swarmed, being gored by the creatures.
Pressing the attack, the two acrobots flip over the swarm of beetles, creating a pincer attack upon them. This unfortunately backfires, as half the beetles turn on them, spraying caustic fluid and goring them with their horns. Jakob has his hands burned off with fluid, and Pritch inhales their acidic spray, coffing up blood as her lungs disintegrate. The two make a final stand, Pritch stabbing at her foes slaying two, while Jakob ignites a flask of oil upon himself and the beetle attacking him, immolating the creature.
Lathan asked Aloyisius to run back to the west to get the halflings to help. He returned to warn the group that the halflings were gone, and that zombies littered the hall where they once were.
The rest of the group utilized the hallway as a choke point and slowly fought their way to victory. They returned towards the zombies, calling the clerics to turn the undead. Manks succeeded, and the party picked off the zombies one by one as they fled.
Discovering that the halflings had opened a tomb where the zombies came out of, a series of boxes full of bones were found, along with an ominous velvet glove bearing a fanged face stitched into it. The party cautiously knocked the boxes off of pedestals and found four levers hidden underneath. The group experimented and eventually discovered that all four must be thrown together.
Doing so caused a rumble, and the sound of stone sliding emanated from the east. The group double timed their way to the east, and found the room they had intended to lockpick was open. They entered and found a verdant green tomb with the coffin of a legendary druid, and a wooden depiction of the Green Man.
Saying a prayer for the druid, whose body seemed to have resisted necrosis, they took his magical cudgel and robes. Grick found a secret door the east, and Sky looked in to a small shrine full of vines with a wooden altar to Silvanus. Sky prayed to the god, and felt his blessing.
The group returned to Helix, selling their plunder for quite a bit, and resigned for the night.
Closing thoughts
Also it was a full table, I unfortunately had to turn away players, but Discord unfortunately gets too chaotic for me with multiple people. Apologies to everyone who pinged me about playing and wasn’t able to get in, I hope to game with you soon!
Definitely a fun session, I need to get more on top of recording statements from the players so I have more of the awesome ideas and interparty dialogue. I keep saying I need to do this, but keep sleeping on it.